President Donald Trump demanded that Intel CEO resign following concerns regarding his connections to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem!”
Trump’s comment comes just days after Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) urged Intel Corporation’s Board of Directors Chairman Frank Yeary to assess CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s ties to semiconductor firms linked to the CCP.
“Mr. Tan reportedly controls dozens of Chinese companies and has a stake in hundreds of Chinese advanced-manufacturing and chip firms. At least eight of these companies reportedly have ties to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army,” Cotton’s letter read, adding that a company formerly under Tan’s leadership, Cadence Design Systems, “pleaded guilty to illegally selling its products to a Chinese military university and transferring its technology to an associated Chinese semiconductor company without obtaining licenses.” The illegal activities occurred while Tan led the company.
Intel recently received nearly $8 billion from the CHIPS and Science Act. “Intel is required to be a responsible steward of American taxpayer dollars and to comply with applicable security regulations,” the senator wrote. “Mr. Tan’s associations raise questions about Intel’s ability to fulfill these obligations.”
Cotton then posed several questions to Yeary, including whether Intel’s board required Tan to “divest from his positions in semiconductor firms linked to the Chinese Communist Party or the People’s Liberation Army and any other concerning entities in China that could pose a conflict of interest for Intel’s CEO?”
